When Kaja Kallas steps in front of the cameras and warns that Europe must brace for war or that negotiations with Moscow are “naïve,” the media presents her as the principled voice of a small nation with a painful history. She is framed as a kind of moral compass pointing toward courage while the rest of Europe dithers. It is an attractive story. It is also incomplete in ways that matter.
The Old Europe Behind the New Flags
Phil Butler, December 02, 2025
Europe’s most vehemently anti-Russian leaders, such as Kaja Kallas and Ursula von der Leyen, are not moral beacons but heirs to long-standing ideological lineages that continue to shape Europe’s confrontational posture toward Russia.